


A Knight to Remember

by Prodigal Homestuck (Prodigal_Sunlight), Prodigal_Sunlight



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Hammertime - Freeform, LOOKS LIKE IM WRITING MORE SO HERE WE GO!, M/M, Pepsicola, dave; gay, gonna bump this up to teen and up since the whole "threat of assassination" thing isn't exactly PG, it's supposed to be the start of a slowburn? but i dunno if I'll write anything past this chapter so, john x dave - Freeform, john; depressed, johndave - Freeform, just a little thing i was throwing around, slowburn, stakes; up, time to start working on chapter three!, ye
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-05 06:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prodigal_Sunlight/pseuds/Prodigal%20Homestuck, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prodigal_Sunlight/pseuds/Prodigal_Sunlight
Summary: Newly promoted, Dave takes on the role of personal knight to the prince. Despite his sister's concerns, he feels confident that he has everything under control. That is, until he meets John. Swept up in a sudden attraction, can he ignore his feelings and carry out his job as intended? No. No he can't.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One  
Dave followed Rose closely as she strode down the hall. She pointedly kept her eyes forward, not glancing back at him even as she spoke.

“I know it is quite the rewarding position, but really, would it have killed you to think before acquiescing? It’s not that I don’t trust you or your skills, but this is a lot of responsibility,” she said, irritably picking at the hem of her cloak sleeve. “Do you really understand what you’re getting yourself into here?”

“Well for starters I can leave my shitty home and move into a giant castle,” Dave said drily. “And then there’s the royal paycheck. I’m basically being pampered to follow some spoiled brat around, right?”

Rose turned around sharply, lips pursed as if she were considered some choice expletives to unload on him. She took a forceful deep breath, closing her eyes to try and center herself. “First of all, you’re going to be protecting the heir to the entire kingdom. Didn’t it occur to you that you might come up against assassins? Or heretics? They don’t meticulously test the entire guard so they can have one of their best swordsmen playing babysitter.”

Dave paused, a swell of pride in his chest. “I’m not the best, Rose, I’m pretty shitty. My bro could wipe the floor with me. Hell, he could wipe the entire castle, clean up all that unsightly shit ‘til it was reflective as a gold trimmed mirror.”

“Well they didn’t offer the position to him, did they?” Rose said. She tried to hide her smile beneath the frustration. “I am of course, thrilled with your success, but one thing at a time.”

She shook her head, starting down the long corridor again, her bare feet nearly silent compared to the heavy clicking of Dave’s boots. “What was I talking about? Right, correcting your mistakes again—Prince John isn’t a spoiled brat. We’ve spoken a few times while the king consulted with my mother. He’s not spoiled. More. . . clueless. Distractible. Kind, but not particularly attentive.”

“So he’s stupid.”

Rose shot Dave a glare. “I don’t know why I let you pester me like this. Maybe I should have let you wander the castle alone, trying to find your post, showing up late to your first day of duty. Couldn’t you at least pretend to be the least bit anxious about this massive shift in your life?”

As they spoke, they turned a corner. Halfway down the hall, two guards stood outside a pair of towering wooden doors. They were silent and stiff, weapons already in hand as they watched the corridor for the slightest hint of a threat.

Dave grabbed Rose’s wrist, dropping his voice low so only she could here. “I’m sorry I’m being so shitty, okay? It’s just. . . anything has to be better than where I came from. You know?”

Sighing, Rose pulled him close, wrapping him up in a hug. “I’m glad you’ll be living here now, I really am. I don’t want you to get in over your head.”

They both stepped away. Dave forced a smile, straightening his sword sheath. “Trust me, this whole personal knight thing? It’s going to be a breeze. I’ve got this shit on lockdown.”

Rose frowned disbelievingly, pulling the hood of her seer garb up, casting a shadow over her face. “Can you please attempt a respectful demeanor? You may be able to pull off your usual bullshit at the lower ranks, but your duty will have you constantly interacting with royalty. The stakes have changed drastically.”

“I know, I know,” Dave said. “Don’t you have to go have a lesson with your mom?” He paused. “Sorry, I mean, the ‘Royal Seer.’”

“Royal Seer of Void and Shadow,” Rose corrected, grimacing. “Technically, yes. I’ve been showing up earlier lately, so she keeps passive–aggressively leaving passages of text out for me to study while she returns from her consultations.”

Dave raised an eyebrow hesitantly. “I’m not gonna ask about that. We’ll be able to meet up tonight, right? I can tell you how things went with Prince Egbert, and you can tell me about this ongoing cold war with your mom.”

Rose nodded, the relaxing slightly. “I’ll need to cut my reading short to be in the dining hall at the same time as you, but I’ve been growing bored with my newest tome anyway. You promise you’re going to be alright?”

“Damn Lalonde, I’m not a lost toddler wandering through the woods with a shitty toy bear and a broken ankle. I’m gonna be fine, alright?” Dave said, offering her a smile.

After a moment’s consideration, Rose hesitantly agreed. “Alright. See you tonight.”

Dave waved as she turned to head down the hall. “See you tonight!” He was lucky to have a half-sister like her, even if she was the most uptight person to ever live. He just hoped her concerns were unfounded. But she was an apprentice seer–who could tell what was unnecessary formalities and what was prophetic instinct? There was really only one way to tell, right?

He nodded to the guards standing outside the prince’s chamber. They let him pass between them without any fuss, instantly recognizing the lavish uniform of the heir’s newly appointed personal knight. Without so much as a pause, he pushed the doors open, and strode into the heir’s chamber.  
Dave Strider was not going to be fine.

 

“Uh, hello?”

The young prince turned around, offering a buck toothed smile. “Oh, hi!” he said eagerly, as if he weren’t half undressed. He stretched, biting back a yawn. The sunlight dripped through the windows, giving his skin a soft warm glow. “You must be Sir Strider, right? I’m John. You probably already knew that, right?”

Dave swallowed, looking pointedly away. The rest of the castle was unbearably chilly–so why was he feeling so overheated? “Uh, yeah. Your Highness, don’t you think a servant should be helping you?” Maybe then he’d have a shirt on sooner.

“Just John,” he said dismissively, picking up a silky blue tunic he’d left on the bed. “It gets kinda weird having so many people in the room. I usually just dress myself.”

Dave tried to close his eyes, clenching his hands into fists to try and keep himself steady. He’d always thought it was weird of royalty to have servants dress them, but this was somehow weirder. “Sure,” he said. “You do that.”

“I never really had a personal knight before,” John said, sliding the tunic on over his smooth freckled skin. It was perfectly tailored to fit, of course. When he moved, it rippled, as though stirred by a sudden breeze.

“I’ve never really been a personal knight before,” Dave retorted flatly. This was weird. Were they just having a conversation now? Was he allowed to do that with royalty? Damn, this job was going to have an adjustment period.

John laughed slightly, picking up a pair of boots, wiggling his bare toes. “My dad told me about you. You got the position because you were super heroic and cool, right? You drove off, like, a whole flock of bandits.”

“Isn’t a group of bandits called a herd?” Dave asked drily, posting up against the door. His eyes swept the room, doing his best to take it all in. He was going to need to be familiar with this place.

John bit his lip, considering the question as he pulled on his left boot. “Wait, no, that’s sheep. Maybe it’s a gaggle? A gaggle of bandits?”

Dave bit back a smile. So this was what Rose meant when she’d been talking about the prince. He was a totally gorgeous dork.

Goofy. He meant goofy.

“Yeah, I guess. I dealt with a gaggle of shitty bandits. It wasn’t anything heroic, they were just harassing some kids out on the edge of town.” It had reminded him of his own childhood. It actually wasn’t half bad as a means of catharsis.

“I bet those kids thought it was heroic!” John said brightly, lacing up his boots. “Anyway, my tutor is sick, my friends are all busy, and my dad has to spend the afternoon listening to appeals, so we can basically do anything.”

Dave hesitated. “We? I mean, aren’t I just, like, your bodyguard or something?”

John glanced up, his smile fading slightly. “I mean, you don’t have to do any of it, I just thought it would be fun, and we could get to know each other better and stuff.”

Shit, was that offensive to royalty? “I’m up for whatever,” Dave said quickly. He tried not to smile when John’s expression brightened.

“Great!” John paused for a moment. “After the shaving cream and chili pepper incident, I’m not allowed to do any pranks for a week—”

“Wait, the /what/ incident?”

“—And the pianos are getting tuned today. We could go down to the stable,” John said thoughtfully, hopping off the bed and crossing over to the door. “Oh! I could introduce you to my horse Casey. Have you seen the field where we have tournaments? I wanna compete, but Dad says I’m not old enough, and also I’m really really bad at it,” John rambled, hurrying out into the hall. He waved at the two guards, then shot a quick glance back to make sure Dave was following.

Dave tucked his thumbs through the loops of the belt. “My bro does the tournaments. He’s probably the best at fencing. And jousting. Hell, he might just be the best, period.”

“Never heard of him,” John said, brightly. “Anyway, I’d rather hear about you!”

Really? That was kind of a first. Usually when he mentioned his bro, that was all anyone wanted to talk about. “Well, I guess I like swords,” Dave said, following John through the halls. “Is that what you want to hear?”

“Makes sense, since you’re a knight,” John said, giving him a quizzical look. “Anything you like that isn’t your job?”

For some reason, the first thing that popped into his mind was John’s freckles, earlier. Trying not to think on it too much, he shrugged nonchalantly. “A lot of stuff, I guess. I do some music. And I like dead stuff.”

“Dead stuff?” John stopped, frowning at Dave with a mix of concern and curiosity. Dammit, that probably sounded weird.

“Like, I dunno, archeology, or paleontology, or whatever one that falls under. And art. But not fancy art. More of a commentary on fancy art via the medium of extremely shitty art that tells ironically shitty stories that make you think ‘hey, is this junk really art? Is that log art? Is my dick art? What the hell even is art anyway?’ But then there’s this whole layer to it you just have to ‘get,’ and you can’t really explain it.”

John grinned. “I think I understood about half of that garbage. You’re kind of a dork, you know that?”

“Says the guy with glasses and buckteeth.” He knew Rose would smack him for that, and in other countries, he could get executed, but he wasn’t all that surprised when John laughed.

“I think it’s gonna be great hanging out with you,” he said. He paused in front of a window, the afternoon sun giving him a golden backlight. The sky seemed pale and faded behind his smile. Maybe it was the compliment, or something in the air, or those stupid little dimples. Maybe it was the excitement of moving into a castle, an ironic gesture to spite Rose, or that perfect electric smile.

Dave’s heart pounded in his chest, a deep feeling to complicated to name sweeping through his bones. He forced himself to nod. “Yeah. It’s gonna be pretty cool.”


	2. Chapter Two

“So, how was it?” Rose asked, breaking a piece of bread. “Did I presume too much in asking you not to make an ass of yourself?”

Dave glanced down at the other end of the table. John was sitting next to his father, with a shit-eating grin that suggested he was telling a joke. “Well first I squawked like a chicken and shit on his desk, then I recited a poem about dicks.” She folded her arms, arching an eyebrow at him. Rolling his eyes, he picked up his own bread, tossing it from hand to hand. “Nothing really happened. We talked a lot, and he showed me his horse Casey, and we rode through the forest for a few hours. You were right about him being a dork.” 

“I never said he was a dork,” Rose said, smiling. “I believe I left that to subtext. I’m glad things went well today. It’ll be good practice. It’s important you’re comfortable in the position before next week.”

Dave ripped off a piece of bread, weighing the merits of flicking it at John. As a positive, John would look at him, maybe pull a goofy face or laugh. As a negative, Rose would probably tell him off. Also, he wasn’t sure how laidback the rest of these guards were, so he could get thrown in the dungeon or executed, and that would suck.

“Dave? Dave, are you listening?”

“Yeah?” he said, glancing back.

Rose sighed, shaking her head. “I was trying to tell you about the summit next week, but you just stopped paying attention and started staring at Prince John again.” She paused, pressing a finger to her lips thoughtfully. “Perhaps you’re manifesting suppressed feelings of—”

“Hey, so, what’s this about some summit thing next week?” Dave interrupted, staring pointedly at his soup bowl, his face turning red.

Rose giggled, taking a bite of her roll. “I’m so glad you asked. It’s not entirely clear to me, either, actually. The neighboring kingdom is sending an entourage, including their young royals. My mother won’t tell me why, but I suspect it has to do with the border dispute and issues of inheritance.”

Dave leaned back in his seat, tipping his head to the side. “And why were you saying I need to be prepared for this?” he asked flatly. “You know, I don’t think I’m expected to get involved with international politics.”

“Of course not,” Rose said, picking up a napkin. “But in history and literature, there is always a level of risk with these sort of things. It isn’t entirely unheard of to send an entourage with a hidden assassin amongst them.”

Dave dropped his fork, staring. “Wait, what?”

“You were warned it would be dangerous when you took the post, Dave,” Rose said seriously. “It’s not certain that something could happen, but caution is important. You’ll be expected to organize a guard for him and ensure he is not at risk. And failure. . .”

“That’s not gonna happen,” Dave said, forcing himself to take a deep breath. “I mean, it’s not really an option, is it?”

Rose nodded. “Everyone will be doing whatever necessary to help you, and you will have whatever resources you need,” she said solemnly.

Dave glanced back up the table. John caught his eyes, grinning and offering a tiny wave. “Does he know?” he asked Rose quietly, waving back. “That it’s this dangerous?”

“He’s royalty, Dave,” Rose sighed, folding her arms. “He’s had a target painted on his chest since he was born. Of course he knows.”

“Hey, Dave!” John yelled, standing up. “Dinner’s over, let me show you your room!”

Rose grabbed Dave’s hand, offering him a brisk nod. “You’ll be fine with this, Dave. Just don’t do anything stupid. Alright?”

Dave managed a stiff smile. “Are you kidding me? Call me the king of kickass, ‘cuz stupid is a national enemy. I’ve got a handle on this like it’s a door with squeaky hinges, someone call the repairman and shut that shit up.”

“I’ll look into contacting a repairman,” Rose said drily, managing a small smile. “You’ll have to manage on your own for now.”

Dave stood up, hurrying off to catch up to John. “Hey,” he said, taking a deep breath. His head was still spinning. Of course it wasn’t going to be simple. He’d never thought doing this job would be easy, but this was something else.

“You looked like you were talking to Rose a lot. Did you know her mom is the royal seer?” John said brightly, holding the door open for Dave. 

“Yeah, I should hope I’d know that. She’s my half-sister,” Dave said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

John broke into a grin. “Seriously? No way! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I guess that’s what people mean when they say it’s a small world, huh!”

“Yeah.” Dave took a deep breath, watching a few maid start lighting candles as the sun set. It was easier to look at them, or at the carpet, or even the cracked stone walls. How was he supposed to talk to John like this? “You know about this summit thing happening next week?”

John nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I’m pretty excited! I don’t get to meet a lot of people from far away. Plus, whenever we have visitors, Dad does a lot of baking.” He pauses and makes a face. “Too much baking if you ask me.”

Dave stops, raising an eyebrow curiously. “Wait. So you’re telling me that the king of the land bakes?”

“Yeah,” John said, waving to the two guards standing dutifully outside his door. “Cookies, cakes, pastries, everything. You know that giant cake that they make every year on my birthday? The one like, six feet tall? That’s not even half the stuff Dad makes. It’s kind of out of hand.”

Dave followed John into his chamber, shaking his head with a smile. “I can’t imagine having someone care enough to do all that for you.” He paused, folding his arms. “Wait, stop, back it up just a bit. We were talking about that summit garbage. You aren’t nervous?”

John shrugged. “I guess? I’ve kinda got. . . numb to all of it. Being in the spotlight and everything. I know I’ll never be much of anything, so I try not to think about political stuff too much. It’s easier to just not feel all of it.”

Should he say something? Try and comfort him? Dave scrambled to find something to say, but John had already moved on.

“This door over here opens onto your room,” John explained, pulling it open. There’s lots of closets and drawers and stuff. Tomorrow we can move all your stuff in.”

“Nah, pretty much everything I own can fit into a bag,” Dave said, following him into the smaller room. It wasn’t as big or as lavish as John’s room of course, but it was still miles and miles above what he’d had before. His armor stand and his military-issued sword and shield were already here, so what was he supposed to do will all this extra space? “This is. . . cool.”  
John smiled, sitting down on Dave’s bed. “Some of the furniture is kind of old. Okay, really really old.”

“You live in a castle,” Dave said, flopping down next to John. “Everything is old.”

John laughed, laying down, his arms folded on his stomach. Dave smiled for a second. He hesitated. He tried not to stare at John, closing his eyes. His heart was pounding in his chest, drumming against his bones.

They were laying next to each other. He was laying next to the prince. The prince with eyes the color of the sky, and dimples, and freckles scattered across his skin like a thousand tiny stars.

Dave’s heart picked up speed when John turned on his side, and their eyes met. That smile. How could anyone not melt under that smile? God, he could melt a glacier with that smile.

“I should probably go get changed,” John said, sitting up, kicking his legs cheerfully. “It’s getting kind of late. You gonna settle in okay?”

For a moment he considered saying no. Maybe if he told John how nervous he was, how scared he was of all this change, maybe he would stay.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Dave said, offering a casual thumbs up. “See you in the morning.”

“See you then!” And with that, the door was closed, and Dave was alone in the fading evening light dripping through the window.

Dave groaned, burying his face in his palms. What was wrong with him? He needed to focus, get together a plan for the summit, make sure everything was going to be safe. But he couldn’t think straight. Every time he tried to so much as start brainstorming, all he could see was John, laying next to him, smiling like a fool.  
He stood up, walking over to the window, leaning out. As if the fresh air could fix what was wrong with him.

Maybe he should tell Rose about it. Ask her for advice. She loved psychoanalyzing the shit out of things.

But then again, if Dave told her he had a crush on the royal heir? She just might kill him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like writing a chapter two. Maybe there'll be more if there's good reception or the mood strikes again haha :P


	3. Chapter 3

“You still haven’t told me what we’re doing,” Dave complained, following John out into the small courtyard at the back of the castle. It wasn’t as fancy as the rest of the gardens; just a stone plaza surrounded by hedges, with a few small sheds off to the side. He hadn’t been here before, and honestly, he wasn’t sure why he was here now.

“Just a second!” John hurried over to the side of one of the sheds, opening a weather-worn chest propped up against the exterior wall. “You’ll need a size smaller than me and. . .”

Dave walked over behind John, peering over his shoulder. Inside the chest were heavy leather tunics and a rack of fencing foils. John passed him one of the tunics, smiling. “I thought maybe we could spar together! I used to have a tutor a few years ago, but I broke my leg for a few months and just never picked it up since.”

Dave laced himself into the armored tunic, picking up one of the blunt foils, weighing it in his hands. “Yeah, I guess.” Surprisingly, the training sword was even shittier than the ones he’d practiced with before he was a knight. Then again, this was apparently just for the fun of it.

John laced himself up, grabbed a sword, and walked to the opposite end of the courtyard. There were faint lines in the dirt, marking out the rough edges of the training area. Casually, Dave squared up across from him. “You can make the first move,” he said.

That was a mistake.

John’s attacks weren’t fast or cleverly placed, but they were powerful. Each swing was decisive, focused, never wasting an attack. It wasn’t like fighting against another swordsman. It was like fighting against someone with a club, or an ax.

Still, Dave hadn’t gotten his job for nothing. His movements were calculated and perfectly timed, his focus unbreakable. Even though the attacks were powerful, he managed to hold out, keeping a careful pace with John.

Wham!

He’d let a single attack slip through. Dave hit the ground with a thud, sliding a short ways across the rough stone. His vision blurred, and it took him a moment to realize he was staring up at the sky.

“Nice!” John walked over, offering a hand to help him up. His face was flushed, sweat beading down his forehead. “I totally handed your ass to you!”

“You kidding me?” Dave said. He hesitated, then took John’s warm, strong hand, and stood up. “I’m just going easy on you, you royal asshat.”

John laughed, setting his practice sword aside. He paused, offering an apologetic smile. “I didn’t hit you too hard, did I? Sometimes I get carried away.”

Dave shook his head, unlacing the leather padded tunic. “No way, it was like getting hit by a pillow full of baby bunnies. I didn’t even know you’d hit me,” he said, rubbing his side. There was probably going to be some bruising. He turned back to face John, then stopped.

John was shirtless. He stretched, his muscles warm and defined. The bright glow of the morning sun shone over him, reflecting off the beads of sweat on his chest. When he stretched, Dave could see every muscle shift, moving with the sort of powerful ease you’d expect from royalty.

His figure was perfect. The tight strength of his chest, melting into the soft roundness of his stomach. A small scar traced down over his collarbone and across his chest, pale against his copper skin. Even his pants hung teasingly low, accentuating his sharp hips, hinting at things beneath.

“Wow, that really wore me out,” John said, taking a deep breath in. “I guess I have been pretty lazy lately,” he added, resting his strong, thick hand on his hips.

Dave stared at the ground between his feet as if his vision alone could bore a hole into the Earth’s surface. He didn’t dare look up, didn’t dare steal another glance. His face was bright red, he could feel it. What would John think?

“Hey Dave, are you alright?” John asked, slinging his tunic over his shoulder. “You’re really quiet all of the sudden.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Dave said quickly. He turned to look at the wooden chest, pretending to straighten the rack of practice swords. “I’m fine.” He needed something to say, something, anything to fill the silence and change the topic. “I didn’t know you had a scar.”

John walked up next to him, putting his own foil away. Unfortunately, the chest was small, so this meant there shoulders were pressed together, their skin barely touching. Dave tried to steady his heartbeat, certain John could hear it.

After a moment, John spoke. “Yeah. I guess not a lot of people do? It’s not something I talk about a lot, I guess.”

“Oh?”

John smiled, shaking his head. “It’s kind of a long story, and it happened ages ago. It’s really not all that important. Sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

Dave pulled back, shaking his head in disbelief. “Uncomfortable? Are you kidding me?” He paused a moment. After some hesitation, he peeled off his own tunic, holding it to his chest. “Dude, I’m a knight. I’ve got, like, a million scars, see? You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”

John reached out, brushing his fingers across the thicker scars. Dave froze beneath his touch, gentle, careful. There was something so warm, so intimate about the small exchange. He closed his eyes, taking a shaky deep breath in. He had to stop thinking like this. It was just a crush, just a stupid, unrequited crush.

“You got all these from fighting?” John asked, tracing a thicker scar across Dave’s chest.

“Some of them,” he said, meeting John’s gaze. “None of them really have great memories attached. Obviously. But they’re a part of me. The little ones. The big ones. They’re all there. And they’ve made me the person I am, for better or for worse.”

John paused, pulling his hand away slowly. “Do they ever still hurt?” he asked, his voice soft and breathy. “Do they. . . do they ever keep you up at night?”

“All the time.”

After a moment, John picked up his tunic, pulling it back over his skin. He looked away, as if contemplating what to say next. After a while, Dave decided he probably wasn’t going to say anything.

“I was seven.” The warmth was gone. John’s voiced was tired, soft, every ounce of energy drained from his being. He closed the chest, sitting cautiously on the lid. “I still didn’t really get the whole. . . royalty thing. I mean, I knew that I got to be special because of my dad, but I didn’t really get it, you know?” Carefully, Dave sat down next to John, listening with rapt attention.

“I don’t remember a whole lot about it. It was the middle of the night, and it was winter, I remember that. I woke up from a bad dream. And when I did, there was someone there, in my room. A man, holding a knife. So many things happened at once. The guards outside the door heard me scream. They ran inside and saw this man just standing there, covered in my blood, about to run out to the balcony. I saw him die before I passed out.”

John clutched his chest, as if he could feel his heart pounding against his ribs. “It took months, but I survived. Most of the muscles have regrown, but the scar is still there.”

Dave stared in disbelief. “How. . . How the hell have I never heard about this?” he asked.

“Dad was worried that if news got out, another assassin would come to finish the job,” John said, staring blankly out across the courtyard, the castle walls casting a shadow across his face. “You probably know about the incident where things suddenly just stopped getting done? No new laws were signed or changed, all court meetings were canceled, and no one knew why? It was because my dad kept canceling meetings to come check on me.”

“John, dude, I. . .” What was he supposed to say? Sorry someone tried to kill you, I’ll try my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again?

John forced a laugh, and suddenly he was smiling again. But it didn’t feel as bright and genuine. How many other times had John been faking his joy? How often had this been weighing on him?

“Like I said, it was forever ago,” John said, shaking his head. “I’m sure you’ve been through way worse shit, don’t worry about it. But. . . I am kinda glad I told you. You’re really nice about this kinda stuff. I’m happy we’re friends, Dave.”

Dave took a deep breath, and offered his best smile, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, he said, nodding. “Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> john egbert is both muscular enough to swing a massive hammer and chubby from all the cake his dad makes and it is the most wonderful combo
> 
> i actually got around to writing this surprisingly quickly! probably wont be as fast with future updates, but we'll see :D

**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun to write! There probably won't be any more chapters (which SUCKS because there was barely any actual time with John and Dave together???) but I wanted to post this anyway


End file.
